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Been looking for over 6+ months for a new vehicle, one that gets semi decent millage & will haul the 5 of us in some kind of comfort.
Ended up bringing home a 2008 Honda Odyssey EX with all of 36 miles on it With the dealers wanting to get rid of the old 08's in preparation for the 09's we did get a good deal on her.
1st trip was 344 miles @ 24 mpg in the mini van loaded with all kinds of crap and the dog.
Went to Estes Park, Rocky Mountain NP (went on both Trail Ridge Road, it's the highest continuous paved road in the nation and Old Fall River Road built in 1921) then on to Grand Lake (much better than Estes Park) then to Winter Park, Idaho Springs, Denver & Famous Dave's BBQ and then home.
Lots and lots of Mountain driving, up to 11K feet and back down a couple times & then a major crash on the interstate that shut it down for over a hour & we sat there running the AC stuck in traffic.
Made a trip to the Peoples Republic of Boulder the other day & all said and done achieved 26mpg (201 miles, 7.5 gal) Did everything the same, zeroed the odometer after filling last night & then filled at the exact same pump to the same fill in the tank so it's got to be accurate.
Did not baby the van on the way down & even broke 100mph (felt like it was going 60) for a ways and the van had quite a bit of pedal left.
Did drive around Boulder & then walked the world famous Pearl Street with the murse.
I've also never seen so many pro Obama bumper stickers in my life.
Congrats on your new purchase. My buddy has a 2004, and after 75K trouble free miles, I changed the timing belt and W/P. It was easier than I thought it would be. Enjoy your van, Honda makes a real good product!
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1994 F-350 7.3 IDI Turbo, crew cab, E4OD, LB, Dually,
ATS Turbo upgrades: 3" DP with 3" exhaust Magnaflow XL muffler: Pictures Here
1997 Jayco fifth wheel 323 RKS, Robins 16K dual axis hitch
Apillar pod with: Autometer C2 Series gauges: pyro,trans, boost
Hypermax Cowl induction, Flex-A-Lite 26K tranny cooler w/fan
K&N air filter (we'll see in a million miles)
Tekonsha "prodigy" brake control
Train Horns: Pictures here
One was flawless and one had quite a few problems including a complete AC change out and a tranny change out....all on warranty.
They handle like a good car not a mushy van and the layout and build quality is excellent.
One thing I noticed on both and even on our 08 Accord is a lot or tire/road noise that Toyota and Lexus don't have.
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Too much junk/toys to mention, ever changing due to too getting bored too quickly. I need a 10 step program!
Want to call? I'm in the book. Want to argue....First explain the square root of negative one....lol
One thing I noticed on both and even on our 08 Accord is a lot or tire/road noise that Toyota and Lexus don't have.
We have an '05 Odyssey EX-L R&N. The "L" means leather, and the R&N probably means XM Radio, DVD entertainment, navigation systems. It also has a hole in the roof that we never use, but that's probably part of the EX trim. We didn't get a Touring on purpose, because of those ridiculous super-expensive run-flat tires that are standard. The only Touring feature we would like to have is the power tailgate.
Ours now has 89,500 miles on the clock, and has never seen the dealer except recently to try to fix the navigation system. No luck, they don't know how to fix it, so we take our portable Garmin with us when we go out of town.
Ours is almost always cruising at 74 MPH, and we get 22 to 24 MPG, depending on wind direction and intensity. Similar to our PSD, it is difficult to fill up through the foam. Ours holds about 5 gallons after the gas pump shuts off, and it takes about 5 minutes to fill it up. But if you don't see liquid gasoline at the filler cap, you haven't filled it up yet, and so you cannot compute accurate gas mileage.
But yes, it has lots of road noise. We traded a 2000 Toyota Avalon XLS for it, and was disappointed at how much road noise reverberates in the interior at 74 MPH compared to the Avalon. My expensive hearing aides cannot be adjusted to eliminate most of the road noise, so I often drive deaf so I don't notice the road noise so much.
We'll have to drive this one for a few more years, and probably can't afford to replace it with another loaded Odyssey. But if I could afford it, I'd buy another one - even with the road noise. It has just so much more utility than a sedan, and a lot more room than my daughter's 2008 Pilot, that I'd like another Odyssey some day. The only quality competitor is the Toyota Sienna, and they have as much road noise as the Odyssey. I guess it's a minivan thing.
Ours includes the maintenance minder that tells you when to change the oil. It comes on about every 5,000 to 7,000 miles, and we have been using it for our oil change interval. If this one makes it to 200,000 miles without an engine overhaul, I'll know that maintenance minder computer program works pretty good.
And the EX includes the cylinder shut-down feature that runs on 3 cylinders (instead of 6) when it can. And if we would slow down to about 65 MPH it would cruise on 3 cylinders most of the time. At 74 MPH, it switches to 3 cylinders only on level ground or going down hills/grades. But the switch between 6 cylinder and 3-cylinder (economy) mode is seamless - you don't know it's happening unless you watch the tattle-tale light on the dash.
One problem is tires. Ours came with special Michelin Energy LX4 tires that are rare. Not as rare as the run-flat tires on a Touring, but rare nevertheless. They are outstanding tires, with decent mileage and excellent traction. At around 50,000 miles, I couldn't find them anywhere. My Michelin dealer told me they were available only from Honda and - get this - Wal-Mart/Sam's Club. Sam's Club didn't stock them, but could special-order them. But TireRack had them on special for less money than Sam's Club, so I ordered them from TireRack, and then had Sam's Club mount and balance them.
Now they will need replacing again soon, and they are still not in stock locally. TireRack still has them, but now at "regular" price, which is high. My local Michelin dealer said he can now order them, and he would sell them to me at the TireRack price, so I had him special-order them - and it took 3 weeks to get them. I put them in the barn, but I'll have them when I need them.
And because the tires are so hard to get, we haul an extra real tire with us when on long trips. That mini spare may be good for a long ways, but not a few thousand miles at 74 MPH it would take us to get back home. Like next week we'll be driving from west Texas to Knoxville TN and back. I don't dare make that trip without a real spare tire.
Last edited by SmokeyWren : 08-15-2008 at 10:28 AM.
Reason: typo
We have an '05 Odyssey EX-L R&N. The "L" means leather, and the R&N probably means XM Radio, DVD entertainment, navigation systems. It also has a hole in the roof that we never use, but that's probably part of the EX trim. We didn't get a Touring on purpose, because of those ridiculous super-expensive run-flat tires that are standard. The only Touring feature we would like to have is the power tailgate.
Ours now has 89,500 miles on the clock, and has never seen the dealer except recently to try to fix the navigation system. No luck, they don't know how to fix it, so we take our portable Garmin with us when we go out of town.
Ours is almost always cruising at 74 MPH, and we get 22 to 24 MPG, depending on wind direction and intensity. Similar to our PSD, it is difficult to fill up through the foam. Ours holds about 5 gallons after the gas pump shuts off, and it takes about 5 minutes to fill it up. But if you don't see liquid gasoline at the filler cap, you haven't filled it up yet, and so you cannot compute accurate gas mileage.
But yes, it has lots of road noise. We traded a 2000 Toyota Avalon XLS for it, and was disappointed at how much road noise reverberates in the interior at 74 MPH compared to the Avalon. My expensive hearing aides cannot be adjusted to eliminate most of the road noise, so I often drive deaf so I don't notice the road noise so much.
We'll have to drive this one for a few more years, and probably can't afford to replace it with another loaded Odyssey. But if I could afford it, I'd buy another one - even with the road noise. It has just so much more utility than a sedan, and a lot more room than my daughter's 2008 Pilot, that I'd like another Odyssey some day. The only quality competitor is the Toyota Sienna, and they have as much road noise as the Odyssey. I guess it's a minivan thing.
Ours includes the maintenance minder that tells you when to change the oil. It comes on about every 5,000 to 7,000 miles, and we have been using it for our oil change interval. If this one makes it to 200,000 miles without an engine overhaul, I'll know that maintenance minder computer program works pretty good.
And the EX includes the cylinder shut-down feature that runs on 3 cylinders (instead of 6) when it can. And if we would slow down to about 65 MPH it would cruise on 3 cylinders most of the time. At 74 MPH, it switches to 3 cylinders only on level ground or going down hills/grades. But the switch between 6 cylinder and 3-cylinder (economy) mode is seamless - you don't know it's happening unless you watch the tattle-tale light on the dash.
One problem is tires. Ours came with special Michelin Energy LX4 tires that are rare. Not as rare as the run-flat tires on a Touring, but rare nevertheless. They are outstanding tires, with decent mileage and excellent traction. At around 50,000 miles, I couldn't find them anywhere. My Michelin dealer told me they were available only from Honda and - get this - Wal-Mart/Sam's Club. Sam's Club didn't stock them, but could special-order them. But TireRack had them on special for less money than Sam's Club, so I ordered them from TireRack, and then had Sam's Club mount and balance them.
Now they will need replacing again soon, and they are still not in stock locally. TireRack still has them, but now at "regular" price, which is high. My local Michelin dealer said he can now order them, and he would sell them to me at the TireRack price, so I had him special-order them - and it took 3 weeks to get them. I put them in the barn, but I'll have them when I need them.
And because the tires are so hard to get, we haul an extra real tire with us when on long trips. That mini spare may be good for a long ways, but not a few thousand miles at 74 MPH it would take us to get back home. Like next week we'll be driving from west Texas to Knoxville TN and back. I don't dare make that trip without a real spare tire.
One size over made a tremendous improvement. The Stock Michelin MX tires bite the big one.
In out Honda vans the 3 cylinder mode is flawless and in the 08 Accord it really is not noticable. Remember in the old days if you had one plug not firing????? it was very noticable and it ran like crap. Now running on 3 cylinders you don't notice???? What magic does this?
Noise, My Accord will run circles around my sister in laws Carmy BUT at 75 on the highway hers is way more quiet. ????? Same size and same power same weight and shape basically? Toy has more sound insulation?? Ya got me but it is noticable.
Don't lauugh at this but my Accord is almost as a good a car as my $70K LS 430 was (not as quiet again) but at $430 a month I like it better than $1290 a month......a lot better.
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Too much junk/toys to mention, ever changing due to too getting bored too quickly. I need a 10 step program!
Want to call? I'm in the book. Want to argue....First explain the square root of negative one....lol
The front and rear motor mounts are gigantic solenoids that energize and denergize according to engine RPM in order to cancel out the vibration produced by running on 3-4 cylinders.
The stereo also has an active noise cancelling feature to get rid of the resonant buzz that is produced when running in that mode.
If it ever quits working you will know it.
Honda's have always made more road noise than the average car but they have also always handled better. Biiiggg difference between the Camry and Accord.
Only EX-L and Touring models have the Variable Cylinder Management system, the LX and EX models do not. Same with the active noise canceling feature from what I've found. Road noise is not that bad & it's quieter than the wife's old car and the 97 F250 PSD.
Took a look at the tires and called Sears, they have em in stock for what it's worth. Don't know anything about em, except they seem to be good tires in the rain. Will see how they preform in the snow/ice this winter.
Not a big fan of mini vans & it screams of metrosexualism and practicalism that drives me nutz, but sad to say it's the best vehicle avaible for our current and future needs.
Not a big fan of mini vans & it screams of metrosexualism and practicalism that drives me nutz, but sad to say it's the best vehicle avaible for our current and future needs.
You are thinking about this all wrong.
When the kids leave you can put a bubble window, shag carpeting and a black light inside it.
My tires are size 235/65R16. Those Cross Terrain Michelins don't come in that size. The closest is 235/70R16. Is that what you mean by "one size over"? But those are a lot taller (712 vs. 746 tire revs/mile) and that would throw my speedo off by 4.5 percent. My speedo is dead on accurate with the stock-size tires, and I like it that way so I can cruise at 74 MPH ticket limit without worry about the State Troopers getting excited. And unlike my SuperDuty dealer, my Odyssey dealer doesn't have a clue as to how to calibrate the speedo for different-size tires. Just as they don't have a clue as to how to fix my navigation system. Compared to my local Toyota and Ford service departments, the local Honda service department stinks.
My tires are size 235/65R16. Those Cross Terrain Michelins don't come in that size. The closest is 235/70R16. Is that what you mean by "one size over"? But those are a lot taller (712 vs. 746 tire revs/mile) and that would throw my speedo off by 4.5 percent. My speedo is dead on accurate with the stock-size tires, and I like it that way so I can cruise at 74 MPH ticket limit without worry about the State Troopers getting excited. And unlike my SuperDuty dealer, my Odyssey dealer doesn't have a clue as to how to calibrate the speedo for different-size tires. Just as they don't have a clue as to how to fix my navigation system. Compared to my local Toyota and Ford service departments, the local Honda service department stinks.
They were taller and it did throw the speedo off about 5 mph at 70!!! Ride was excellent and noise was less. tire guy did't want to put them on because they were the wrong size. I still liked the improvement.
235-65-16 is stock I'm pretty sure (CAR GONE) it was 245-70-16!!
709 revs per mile!!! from the tire rack site.
I have the Michelin cross terrain on my wifes titan also which was a big improvement on the stock tires!
I like michelin a lot.... LTX on the ford pu's when i had them. The real LTX the 10 ply AS!!! 120,000 miles on my dodge!!
If Higgins/Tutt would get his darn Diesel Accord I will follow him once he does the beta testing for me.
You must admit the honda van handles like a GOOD car not like a mushy van.
I think if you drove real fast on a windy road with the honda and had a Chrysler Town and Country following you they would run off the road!
__________________
Too much junk/toys to mention, ever changing due to too getting bored too quickly. I need a 10 step program!
Want to call? I'm in the book. Want to argue....First explain the square root of negative one....lol
